The guest speaker for the Nov 10th “Celebration of Freedom” and dedication of the Veterans Memorial Highway is to be Brigadier General Ed Flora. He currently is the Commander of The Kansas Air National Guard and will present a short talk following the unveiling of one of the signs identifying the highway.
The band from the “Big Red One” and riders from the Post 81 Patriot Guard will be in attendance. The public is invited to the courthouse lawn at 10:00 am. A parade through town will begin at 11:00, following the dedication activities. Other activities will take place throughout the week following more details will be presented as they become available.
Last week I had the pleasure of addressing the El Dorado Rotary Club and the Towanda Lions Club. I had been invited to give an update on Legislative activities and stand for questions on various topics. This is an excellent way for me to connect with many different groups and for you to ask questions. I would enjoy talking with your group as well, just give me a call.
Nationally the price of Ethanol at the pump has dropped 30% since May. Many factors are responsible for the slow down in expansion of Ethanol plants across the country. A study from Iowa State University shows that when congress enacted legislation that provided incentives for alternate fuel development, the industry reacted very quickly.
The reaction was so swift there is close to a glut of production and a severe lack of distribution capacity. Gas stations do not have the tank space for ethanol only pumps, and our transport trucks and rail lines have a shortage of tankers to transport the product to the east and west coast where the demand is the highest.
Because Ethanol is so corrosive and it attracts moisture the use of pipelines is out of the question. The product is not compatible with our current pipelines. Magellan and others are working on some additives and other enhancements to their pipelines to overcome this problem. Good old American ingenuity will overcome the obstacles.
In 2005 ethanol was $2.00 a gallon and corn was $1.60 a bushel, in 2007 ethanol was $1.55 a gallon and corn was $3.27 a bushel. The cost of the raw product was good news to the farmers and growers, bad news for refiners. Anything with starch in it can be distilled into alcohol. This includes corn, milo, sugar cane, grapes, wheat stocks and wood pulp. In Europe unsold wine is reprocessed into the alcohol base for fuel.
If we used all the corn available for making Ethanol we could satisfy 10% of our National needs. Did you know that Kansas is the #2 producer of milo in the nation? The alternate fuels industry has made a tremendous impact on our nation both at the distilling level and the distribution level.
There is a shortage in production of railroad tank cars. In the third quarter of 2005 there was a production backlog of 10,000 rail cars today that number is 36,166. And now we wonder where Union Tank car went?
There is approximately $462 million spent annually by sportsman in Kansas. According to a National Survey by Fishing, Hunting, and Wildlife-Associated Recreation. We have a 24% participation rate by resident sportsmen that equates to about 491,000 hunters and anglers. State taxes generated from hunting and fishing could pay for 1,039 teacher salaries or fund the education costs of 5,292 students.
Kansas had 258,819 resident fishing licenses sold in 2005, total revenues from all resident and non-resident, licenses, tags, permits, and stamps generated $4,800,349. The Kansas Parks and Wildlife magazine brings in $235,000. The annual revenue from the magazine pays for itself, with the added benefit of direct messaging to sportsmen as well as non-sportsmen.
A recent article in the Kansas Government Journal presented a study funded by MetLife that finds only 46% of all American communities have been planning to address the needs of the exploding population of Baby Boomers. This group born between 1946 and 1964- is rapidly approaching retirement age. When this trend hits its peak in 2030, the number of people over the age 65 in the U.S. will soar to over 71.5 million-twice their number in the year 2000-or one in every five Americans.
“Beyond their traditional aging services such as senior centers, meals-on-wheels programs, and home care, communities clearly need to assess their policies, programs, and services in the areas of transportation, housing, land use planning, public safety, parks and recreation, workforce development, and volunteerism/civic engagement”.
The reports findings included: 1/3 of the communities do not have health care screening, health care education, or counseling on prescription drug programs, 80% provide home-delivered meals, though only 25% provided nutrition education, 1/3 reported not having fitness programs although 86% reported having biking/walking trails.
More than 33% of the communities do not have a system to locate older adults in case they become ill or wander due to Alzheimer’s or other forms of dementia, and 70% do not have prevention programs on elder abuse or neglect. Goodness where do we start?
I would like to hear from you on what you think we need to be doing, be sure and pass on your recommendations along with your criticism. I will make sure the City and County Government get your responses.
I consider it an honor and privilege to be your Representative in Topeka and I want to know what you think. I still need an intern for 2008. Contact me at johng@carlisleinc.net, grange@house.state.ks.us, www.johngrange.net, or write me at home, 1115 Rim Rock Road, El Dorado 67042, home phone is
316-321-2087.
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